1939 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team
The 1939 Texas Tech Red Raiders football team represented Texas Tech during the 1939 college football season and were led by Pete Cawthon in his 10th season as the program's fourth head coach. The team outscored opponents by 150 to 74.[1] The season is notable for the game against Centenary in which the teams combined for an NCAA-record 77 punts.
| 1939 Texas Tech Red Raiders football | |
|---|---|
 1939 Texas Tech football team | |
| Conference | Border Conference |
| 1939 record | 5–5–1 (2–1 Border) |
| Head coach |
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| Home stadium | Tech Field |
| 1939 Border Conference football standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | T | W | L | T | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State $ | 4 | – | 0 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 2 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico | 4 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 8 | – | 2 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Tech | 2 | – | 1 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 5 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Texas Mines | 3 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 5 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona | 1 | – | 2 | – | 0 | 6 | – | 4 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New Mexico A&M | 1 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 3 | – | 6 | – | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Arizona State–Flagstaff | 0 | – | 4 | – | 0 | 1 | – | 6 | – | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Schedule
| Date | Opponent | Site | Result | Attendance | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 23 | at Texas Mines | L 2–7 | |||
| September 30 | Texas Wesleyan* | W 30–0 | |||
| October 7 | Gonzaga* |
| L 0–6 | ||
| October 14 | Arizona State–Flagstaff |
| W 54–0 | ||
| October 21 | New Mexico |
| W 19–7 | ||
| October 27 | at No. 11 Duquesne* | L 0–13 | |||
| November 4 | at Miami (FL)* | L 0–19 | |||
| November 11 | at Centenary* | T 0–0 | [2] | ||
| November 18 | Marquette* |
| L 19–22 | 8,000 | |
| November 25 | Montana* |
| W 13–0 | ||
| December 1 | at Loyola (LA)* | New Orleans, LA | W 13–0 | ||
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Game summaries
at Centenary
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Red Raiders | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gentlemen | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
at Centenary College Stadium, Shreveport, LA
- Date: November 11
- Game weather: Heavy rain
The game was played in a torrential downpour that led to muddy field conditions that prevented either team from effectively running or passing the ball. To cope with the poor conditions, the teams resorted to punting in hopes of recovering a turnover on the other end of the field. Both teams combined for 77 punts (39 for Texas Tech and 38 for Centenary), with 67 occurring on first down. 42 punts were returned, 19 went out of bounds, 10 were downed, 1 went into the end zone for a touchback, 4 were blocked, and 1 was fair caught. The Gentlemen managed to finish with 31 yards of total offense, while the Red Raiders finished with a one-yard loss.[3] Texas Tech punter Charlie Calhoun punted the ball 36 times for 1,318 yards, both of which still stand as NCAA records.[4]
References
- "1939 Texas Tech Red Raiders Schedule and Results". Sports Reference.
- "Tech, Gents tie in punt duel". The Tyler Courier-Times. November 12, 1939. Retrieved July 25, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- "When Punts Rained from the Sky". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 28, 2021.
- "2013 Football Records Book - FBS" (PDF). NCAA.org. Retrieved April 28, 2021.